Town Hall News

By Michael S. Derby NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Federal Reserve said on Friday that rising interest costs cut into the amount of money it handed back to the Treasury last year compared to what it handed back in 2021. The Fed returned $76 billion to the Treasury last year, down from $109 billion the year before, the central bank said as part of an audited financial statement released Friday. […]

(Reuters) -The U.S. health regulator on Friday proposed cancer drug developers in most cases conduct more rigorous trials to seek accelerated approval for their candidates. The Food and Drug Administration’s proposed recommendation follows criticism for the accelerated approval pathway, as well as an independent federal review into it after the controversial nod for Biogen Inc’s Alzheimer’s treatment Aduhelm. Accelerated approvals allow quicker nod for therapies that target serious and life-threatening […]

(Reuters) -Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro will return to Brazil on March 30, his party confirmed via social media on Friday, following more than three months of self-imposed exile in the United States after losing his re-election bid. Bolsonaro’s return to Brazil is eagerly awaited by his conservative Liberal Party (PL), which became the largest in the Brazilian Congress after the election last October. “Our national president, Valdemar Costa Neto, […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy thinks lawmakers will pass bipartisan legislation to address national security worries about Chinese-owned short video app TikTok, he said on Friday, and called the testimony of the company’s CEO “very concerning.” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before a U.S. House Committee for about five hours on Thursday and lawmakers from both parties grilled him about national security and […]

By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy thinks lawmakers will pass bipartisan legislation to address national security worries about Chinese-owned short video app TikTok, he said on Friday, and called the testimony of the company’s CEO “very concerning.” TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeared before a U.S. House Committee for about five hours on Thursday and lawmakers from both parties grilled him about national security and […]

By Naomi Rovnick and Koh Gui Qing LONDON/NEW YORK (Reuters) -Global stock markets swooned on Friday as fears about contagion among banks hobbled shares in lenders such as Deutsche Bank, with the flight from risk shoring up the dollar and driving bond yields lower. Market sentiment was hurt by a sell-off in the shares of Deutsche, which tumbled as much as 15% at one point, as its credit default swaps, […]

By Valentina Za and Francesco Canepa MILAN (Reuters) -UniCredit is leaning towards repaying a perpetual bond at the earliest opportunity in June, a source close to the matter told Reuters, a move that would show it has ample capital and help keep funding costs in check as markets reel from a crisis of confidence. UniCredit in recent weeks put in a request with European Central Bank supervisors to repay a […]

By Andrea Shalal and Ted Hesson OTTAWA (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kicked off meetings in Ottawa on Friday after making a deal aimed at stopping asylum seekers from traversing the shared U.S.-Canada land border via unofficial crossings. They are expected to discuss migration, the worsening security and humanitarian situation in Haiti, the war in Ukraine, trade and fighting climate change, officials said. […]

By Saeed Azhar and Matt Tracy NEW YORK (Reuters) – Small U.S. lenders that have outsized exposure to office loans could become the next group to face strains after bank failures roiled financial markets this month, according to analysts. Rising interest rates, a slowdown in the commercial real estate (CRE) market and the proliferation of remote work pose challenges for smaller firms that made risky loans to finance office buildings, […]